Father Bill's Orthodox Blog – Orthodoxy from the Third Coast
A Variety of Topics: Saints, Seasons, Society, the Moral Life, plus Travels mostly to Greece, and more, by Father Bill Olnhausen
GREAT AND HOLY PASCHA! Christ is risen! Truly he is risen! Father Alexander Schmemann called our Orthodox Paschal celebration “an explosion of joy”. I’ll say little: words are inadequate to describe the services. They speak for themselves – if you can stay awake! It’s ok to bring children and let them sleep in church. […]
Read More »Note that we’re still on our Holy Week “topsy-turvy” schedule, always “anticipating” the next appointed service. Above: This is how they must have been seated. The traditional image with all seated behind the table is for symbolic reasons. Introduction For most of our Orthodox history the Holy Wednesday night service was Matins/Orthros, which continues […]
Read More »This story has always captivated me, for reasons I can’t explain. The Monastery of Saint Savas (Mar Sabas) in the Palestinian West Bank down below Jerusalem is one of the oldest continually functioning monasteries in the world. In the late Fourth Century monks from Mar Sabas spent much of Lent alone in the desert. A […]
Read More »Last week we talked about how to be saved. This week we’ll talk about a sure way not to be saved. But first: Please pray for the brave people of Ukraine (which is about 75% Orthodox, 35 million people), still being bombarded day after day by Russia in this unjust unholy war, now entering its […]
Read More »But before we begin: 1 The husband of one of our readers wrote this Haiku (a Japanese form of poetry) after the ICE murder of Alex Pretti, which I think is worth sharing: They shot him 10 times. It was 10 degrees outside. That is such cold blood. 2 Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. When […]
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